Tom Clifford(2019-05-10). Targeting China: It's About Politics Not Trade.counterpunch.orgBeijing. Trade? It's no big deal. Politics? That's the issue. The trade spat between the United States and China isn't about deficits or tariffs. It's about Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan. The view from Beijing is that Republicans and Democrats are united in the bogeyman belief. Someone to blame. The China threat. Donald Trump's anti-China message helped More

susan_p(2019-05-10). Sri Lanka: bombings a pretext for intensified repression.greenleft.org.au The Sri Lankan army and police have used the bombings of churches and hotels on Easter Sunday as a pretext for repression, targeting people who have no connection with the group responsible, the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ — National Monotheism Society). | The NTJ, an extremist Islamic group, is believed to be linked to the Islamic State, based in Iraq and Syria. | Sri Lankan police have been raiding numerous Muslim groups with "Thowheed" in their name, even if they are opposed to the NTJ. As of May 2, at least 130 Muslims had been detained, according to Tamilnet. | Non-Muslims have also been affected. On…

Sara Flounders(2019-05-10). Golan is Syria!workers.org A demonstration in front of the Israeli Mission in New York City denounced Trump's recognition of Israel's 52-year illegal annexation and occupation of Golan, a province of Syria. The protest was held May 6 — Martyrs' Day in Syria and Lebanon, and for over 100 years a commemoration of continuing . . . | Continue reading Golan is Syria! at Workers.org

Henry Giroux(2019-05-10). Critical Pedagogy, Fascist Culture, and Hope in Dark Times.counterpunch.org Something sinister and horrifying is happening to liberal democracies all over the globe.Democratic institutions such as the independent media, schools, the legal system, certain financial institutions, and higher education are under siegeworldwide. Some of the latest examples of this can be found in the United States with the resurgence of vigilantes and right-wing militia groups along the southern border and the intrusion of tech-based educational practices into schools producing curricula that some parents claim turn kids into zombies. Trump's continued attack on higher education offers another highly visible…

Louis Proyect(2019-05-10). Bernie Sanders and the Movement That Might Have Been.counterpunch.org As I gird my loins for a renewed ideological struggle against Bernie Sanders's bid to become the Democratic Party's nominee to run against Donald Trump, I thought it advisable to get up to speed by reading Jeffrey St. Clair's "Bernie & The Sandernistas: Field Notes From a Failed Revolution" that was published in 2016. Since More

pip.hinman(2019-05-10). Wayne Wharton: 'All power to the workers, Treaty now!'.greenleft.org.au Prominent Aboriginal elder Wayne Wharton is making a tilt for the senate in Queensland this election, campaigning on issues such as justice for Aboriginal people, justice reinvestment and an improved aged care system. | Wharton told Green Left Weekly: "The systems that we've had for the last 230 years is broken, they're useless." | These include the legal system which, he says, is based on a "feudal system of punishment" instead of rehabilitation, and the two-party system, in which the big parties have become dominated by "top-end-of-town corruption". | Wharton believes the government should reflect the diversity…

Toby Blome(2019-05-10). CODEPINK Monthly Golden Gate Bridge Walk for Peace.indybay.orgBE GREEN AND CARPOOL | See http: //tripplanner.transit.511.org for public transit options. | Golden Gate Transit Buses 10, 70, 80 | and SF Muni Bus 28 stop at the bridge (SF side). | Parking available on all 4 "corners", just remember to take the last exit on hwy 101 as you approach the bridge, or the first exit after you leave the bridge. | 11: 45 am: Gather at the SF or Marin end of the eastern walkway of the Golden Gate Bridge. | Noon: Walk on the eastern walkway from the north or south ends to converge in the middle for World Peace. Then march to the SF side for rally.

unitedEditor(2019-05-09). Turkish electoral commission calls for recount in Istanbul.uwidata.comYesterday, the Turkish Central election commission made a final decision in regard to the contested election results for mayor of Istanbul, which took place on March 31. After the candidate from the opposition Republican People's Party (NPP), Ekrem ƒ∞mamoƒülu, declared victory with a margin of only 13,729 votes, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) …

Fight Back(2019-05-09). Jacksonville celebrates May Day.fightbacknews.orgJacksonville, FL — About 35 people gathered on May 1 to celebrate International Workers' Day in Jacksonville. The rally was held in front of the Duval County Courthouse. Members of several local trade unions were present, including Letter Carriers, Teamsters, SEIU, Teachers, and IATSE. Other local activist groups included the Community Action Committee, Students for a Democratic Society, Progressive Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Network, the Northside Coalition, and the local Democratic Black Caucus. | The rally was united under the theme of building alliances between different groups and organizations. A…

Eds.(2019-05-09). Seven theses on the Capitalist Democratic State.mronline.org What is the capitalist democratic state and how should it be confronted? This question has bedevilled the left for generations. On the one hand, a social democratic conception of the state as a neutral institution that needs to be occupied and captured by bureaucrats with the right ideas has lead to experiments in socialist governance […] | Source

Staff(2019-05-09). Crisis Point? High Stakes in Trump's Showdown With Congress.truthdig.comWASHINGTON—Democrats call it a "constitutional crisis." But is it? | Stunned by the extent of the White House's blanket refusal to comply with oversight by Congress, the Democrats warn that the Trump administration is shattering historic norms and testing the nation's system of checks and balances in new and alarming ways. | It's not just the House's fight with the Justice Department over the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report. The standoff involves President Donald Trump's unwillingness to engage with dozens of Capitol Hill probes of his tax returns, potential business conflicts and the run…

Eric A. Gordon(2019-05-09). 'March and Variations': Stefan Wolpe's revolutionary music for two pianos.peoplesworld.org "Workers don't carry a piano around with them," said the great German Communist composer Hanns Eisler, who wrote many of the most enduring working-class songs of the 1930s, many of them set to texts by his close collaborator Bertolt Brecht. (After WWII, he also wrote the national anthem for the new German Democratic Republic.) His …

Glenn Greenwald(2019-05-09). Watch: Interview With Democratic Congresswoman and 2020 Presidential Candidate Tulsi Gabbard.theintercept.comEver since Tulsi Gabbard was first elected to Congress in 2012, she has been assertively independent, heterodox, unpredictable, and polarizing. Viewed at first as a loyal Democrat and guaranteed future star by party leaders — due to her status as an Iraq War veteran, a telegenic and dynamic young woman, and the first Hindu and Samoan-American elected to Congress — she has instead become a thorn in the side, and frequent critic, of those same leaders. | Gabbard's transformation from cherished party asset to party critic and outcast was rapid, and was due almost entirely to her insistence on following h…

pip.hinman(2019-05-09). Trump ratchets up anti-immigrant campaign.greenleft.org.au While much of the media continues to focus on the Mueller report and the squabbles between the White House and the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, US President Donald Trump's real crimes are scarcely addressed or are ignored altogether. | This column will take up one of these crimes, Trump's intensification of his racist war on immigrants. He is not alone on this — the ultra-right throughout Europe and elsewhere have similar anti-immigrant policies. | In recent weeks Trump has appointed new officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Staff(2019-05-09). House Panel Holds Barr in Contempt as Trump Claims Executive Privilege.truthout.orgThe House Judiciary Committee has voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress over his refusal to turn over the unredacted Mueller report and the underlying evidence to lawmakers. Meanwhile, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff has issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for the unredacted report. This all came after the White House invoked executive privilege to prevent the full report's release to Congress and to bar former White House counsel Don McGahn from providing documents to Congress related to the Mueller probe. We speak with Ian Millhiser, a columnist for Thi…

John Wojcik(2019-05-09). Trump flouts the law, plunges country into constitutional crisis.peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON—President Trump, by trashing and ignoring laws that require him to provide information sought by the Congress of the United States, has pushed the country into the full-fledged constitutional crisis with the worst political scandal ever to rock the nation. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler declared on national cable television last night that a …

ACLU(2019-05-09). Congress, Laws Suppressing Boycotts of Israel Are Unconstitutional. Sincerely, Three Federal Courts.aclu.orgCongress has a constitutional duty to protect the rights of the American people, including the First Amendment right to participate in boycotts. | Congress just got yet another reminder that the First Amendment right to political boycotts is alive and well in the United States, and any legislative attempt to infringe on that right puts them squarely against the Constitution. | Last week a federal district court in Texas blocked as unconstitutional a state law that required government contractors to certify that they d…

Democracy Now!(2019-05-09). A Constitutional Crisis? House Panel Holds AG Barr in Contempt as Trump Claims Executive Privilege.democracynow.org The House Judiciary Committee has voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress over his refusal to turn over the unredacted Mueller report and the underlying evidence to lawmakers. Meanwhile, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff has issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for the unredacted report. This all came after the White House invoked executive privilege to prevent the full report's release to Congress and to bar former White House counsel Don McGahn from providing documents to Congress related to the Mueller probe. We speak with Ian Millhiser, a columnist for ThinkP…

Staff(2019-05-09). A Green New Deal Must Prioritize Regenerative Agriculture.truthout.orgWe are at a radically new stage in our fight for the planet. The Green New Deal proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youth-led Sunrise Movement, and hundreds of other climate justice leaders and organizations has given us a new holistic framework for tackling both the climate crisis and structural inequality. | This bold vision for the future has, in a matter of months, radically expanded what is politically possible and clarified what is morally req…

Caoimhghin àì Croidheáin(2019-05-09). NATO and the Culture of War: Ireland's History of Resistance.dissidentvoice.org This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of NATO with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. Established as a peacetime alliance between the United States and Europe to prevent expansion of the Soviet Union, NATO has grown in size and and changed from a defensive force to an …

Emily Apple(2019-05-09). This week's Question Time hasn't even aired and people are pointing out a massive problem.thecanary.co On 9 May, the BBC will broadcast its latest edition of Question Time. But people are pointing out a massive problem with the episode before it's even aired. | The panel will include Nigel Farage and Anna Soubry. They are representatives of two parties — the Brexit Party and Change UK — that have no elected MPs, councillors, or MEPs. While both parties can claim representatives in the European and UK parliaments, neither has faced a public vote. | Meanwhile, the Green Party and the Liberal…

Democracy Now!(2019-05-08). Cecile Richards: Georgia's New "Fetal Heartbeat" Bill Criminalizes Women Who Seek Abortions.democracynow.org Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed into law Tuesday a six-week abortion ban, or so-called "fetal heartbeat law" that bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected—something that typically happens just six weeks into a pregnancy and before many women realize they're pregnant. It is now one of the country's most restrictive abortion laws. "It doesn't just make abortion illegal," says | Cecile Richards, former head of Planned Parenthood. "It basically would allow women to be convicted and either sentenced to death or to life imprisonment in Georgia." She notes the real medical crisis for w…

Ryan Grim(2019-05-08). The Democratic Counterrevolution Has a Self-Appointed Leader: Josh Gottheimer.theintercept.com Not long after Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar were sworn into Congress, they began hearing from their new colleagues that one member of the House Democratic caucus, Josh Gottheimer, had particularly strong views about each of them. Gottheimer, a second-term representative from New Jersey, has deep ties to the lobbies for Saudi Arabia and Israel, while Tlaib and Omar are often critical of both Mideast governments. | So when Gottheimer reached out to meet with Tlaib, she was eager to take it, hoping that a personal connection would help bridge their differences. On the day of the meeting, February 6, Gottheimer arriv…

Democracy Now!(2019-05-08). New Era for the ERA? 35 Years Later, Will Equal Rights Amendment Finally be Ratified?democracynow.org Activists and lawmakers testified last week before a House Judiciary subcommittee in the first congressional hearings on the Equal Rights Amendment in more than 35 years. The constitutional amendment was approved by Congress in 1972, and was ratified by 35 states over the next decade — three states short of the required total needed by a 1982 deadline. Nevada and Illinois have since ratified the amendment. A bill by Rep. Jackie Spear would eliminate the 1982 deadline, leaving the ERA just one state away from becoming a part of the U.S. Constitution. We speak with co-presidents and CEOs of the ERA Coalition/…